Historic win for UO men

Despite pelting hail and bitter cold, the Oregon men’s track and field team rolled to an historic win over UCLA today before 4,451 at Hayward Field.

The Ducks won 94-69, the most points they’ve ever scored in the 16 meetings between the two schools, and the largest margin of victory in the series which dates back to 1966.

Oregon used a strong start in the throws – sweeping the javelin as Mike Simmons hit a PR of 226-8 (No. 6 all-time with new implement) followed by a surprise 1-2 finish in the hammer from senior Colin Veldman and freshman Jordan Stray.

Andrew Wheating looked good in a wire-to-wire win in the 800 (1:48.83) and Ashton Eaton set a PR of 46.74 in winning the 400.

Check out Sunday’s paper to hear what the Oregon athletes had to say about their big win over UCLA.

Curtis Anderson covered UO track and field for The Register-Guard from 1990-96, and again since 2005. He covered the 2012 Olympic Games in London, in addition to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in New Orleans (1992), Atlanta (1996) and Hayward Field (2008 and 2012). He is the winner of the Jesse Abramson Award, presented by the Track & Field Writers of America for excellence in coverage in 2008.